“The art is whatever enables one to master the trauma and move on.”

It is not an accident that The Art of Surviving invokes both the concrete, physical object of a work of art or a poem and also the “art” that is part of surviving from sexual violence. Analysis of the works of art and poetry in April, 2007 led to many reflections on the question “What is the ‘art of surviving’”: “Art is self-expression and comes in many forms: paintings, drawings, movies, sculpture, photography, poetry.” The creation of this product “involves body, mind and spirit,” and as such, represents a whole experience, just as the violence itself was a fully embodied experience. These products can then be presented to the public and this act in and of itself has an instrumental force in the world: “Allowing the art to be exhibited is speaking out. People seeing it is making connections to other survivors and to begin to heal. People who are not survivors can make connections to the issues and become more aware.”